How the Realtors Fared Against Alaska and Coke

The Sta. Lucia Realtors was able to secure the last spot in the semis in the on-going 33rd PBA Season by winning their last eight (8) games and finished with the second best record in the elimination round. The Realtors actually have the same record as the Purefoods Tender Juicy Giants (12-6), but due to a lower quotient they have to settle for the second spot.

The Realtors semis opponents is a tossed up between the Alaska Aces and the Coca-Cola Tigers. They won twice against the Aces and split their 2 games against the Tigers. Let us take a look back at how the Realtors performed against both of these teams and maybe we will have an idea on how they will fare with either of them in the semis. Although the semis is whole new ball game and played at a much higher level, it is sometimes useful to check on what departments the Realtors did well because they could take advantage of this when the series begins.

What is ironic though is that the games against these two teams were the turning point for the Realtors. The second game with the Tigers was the last lost that the Realtors suffered before going into an eight-game winning streak starting with their first meeting against the Aces.

Against the Alaska Aces

The Realtors played two games against the Aces and won both of them. They averaged 97.5 points in those two games, which is actually 3 points higher than their whole elimination round average. It means that they shoot the ball well whenever they are up against the Aces as shown by their very high field goal percentages, 30.1 percent from the 3-point region and 50.4 percent in the 2-point area. The Realtors can only manage to grab 39.5 rebounds in those two games, but they don’t need to grab many rebounds if you are shooting very well on the floor or if you average about 20.0 assists in those two games.

The defense of the Realtors seems to work very efficiently whenever they play the Aces. They were able to keep the Aces from scoring more than 92.0 points per game and steal as many as 10.5 times in each of those two outings. Even if the Aces were able to maintain a decent shooting clip from the floor, 32.5 percent from the 3-point line and 46.3 percent from the 2-pt area, they turned the ball over 24.0 times. The Realtors made their opponents commit as many as 15.9 turnovers per game in the elimination round and the Aces is one of their favorite victims. The Aces also tend to get intimidated by the pressing the defense of the Realtors since they can only manage 14.5 assists in their two meetings.

Against the Coca-Cola Tigers

Even if the Realtors won their first game against the Tigers, it hardly matters because the Tigers did not have the 6’9” behemoth Asi Taulava during that time. What will be critical was the performance of the Realtors in their last game against the Tigers on 01 December 2007, which they lost.

In that game, the Realtors were clearly manhandled by the Tigers. Shooting a woeful 37.8 percent from the 2-pt region, the Realtors failed to defend the shaded lane from the rejuvenated Coca-Cola frontline of Taulava and Mark Telan, which combined for 49 points and 36 rebounds. The back court of the Tigers also gave the Realtors a dose of their own medicine as they shared the ball better to end up with 21 assists and providing 5 steals to offset their disadvantage in the number of turnovers 23-16. They also took cared of the ball this time by allowing the Realtors to steal the ball only 7 times compared to 14 steals in their first meeting.

Aside from the lone bright spot in the turnover department, the Realtors cannot seem to maintain the number that they had before against the Tigers. Shooting as high as 51.6 percent from the 2-pt region in their previous game, the Realtors missed a lot of those same shots owing mainly to the presence of Taulava in the shaded lane. The Tigers’ defense was so relentless that they allowed the Realtors to score their lowest output in the elimination round of only 79 points, their second this Conference. After this game, though, the Realtors went on to win eight straight games by limiting their opponents to only 90.5 points, while scoring 97.8 points themselves.